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Mystery Publishers

Academy Chicago PublishersAn imprint of the Chicago Review Press. Features a number of interesting authors, most long out of print, plus some other odds and ends, including some horror stories by Conan Doyle.

Crippen & LandruCrippen & Landru publish mystery short story collections. Of particular interest is what they call "Lost Classics," a series of anthologies of mostly uncollected stories by authors who might be enjoyed by a new generation of readers.

Dean Street PressThis small British publisher has a great many classic crime books in its much broader catalog. They are bringing back many Golden Age classics by authors who deserve another chance at a new audience.

Felony & MayhemThis publisher specializes in classic mysteries, broadly defined, including newer mysteries that adhere to classic standards. They have just overhauled their website to make it much more informative and user-friendly.

Langtail PressA fairly new Print On Demand publisher specializing mostly in classic mysteries. The managing director, James Prichard is the great-grandson of Agatha Christie, and his lineage shows. Authors include John Dickson Carr, Ellery Queen, Anthony Berkeley, and Freeman Wills Crofts, among others. Many are also published as ebooks for the Amazon Kindle.

Locked Room InternationalA small press, specializing in very good English-language translations of (so far) mostly-French authors of locked room and impossible crime stories. They publish in Print-On-Demand and electronic editions.

Merion PressThe Merion Press is an independent publisher of out-of-print works that were originally published over 75 years ago, but are enduring even today.

MysteriousPress.comThe brainchild of editor/anthologist/author/bookstore-owner Otto Penzler, the Mysterious Press has recently returned to life and now works with Open Road Media as an electronic book publisher. It is already republishing the work of a lot of classic authors, with more books on the way.

Oconee Spirit PressA small, independent publisher committed to publishing "lively fiction, and provocative non-fiction." Most of their list covers early works by established authors writing traditional mysteries, such as Carolyn Hart and Margaret Maron.

Oleander PressThis small eclectic British publisher has begun publishing a series of classic British mystery novels, primarily from the Golden Age. The series is grouped into a section of their catalogue named "London Bound," as the books are set in London.

Ostara Publishing"Ostara Publishing re-issues titles that have unjustifiably become unavailable either through the ravages of time or the forces of publishing economics. We specialise in Crime and Thriller fiction titles and our range goes from the1920s through to the 21st century. We publish thematically and currently have six series available. All our titles are published in a 'trade paperback' format and printed to order."

Poisoned Pen PressBased in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Poisoned Pen Press publishes a fairly wide variety of mysteries. Some are reprints; many are new, by newer authors. Their website has a great deal of information about their books and authors.

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That means that if you order anything from Amazon through a link from my site or the search box on my page, I get a small commission. As a result, I'd consider it a favor if you would consider making your purchases through my links. As always, though, if you have a local mystery book store, I encourage you to use them as your first choice. For anything else... Thank you.

April 14, 2014

"Necklace and Calabash"

Judge Dee was looking forward to his stopover in Rivertown, on his way home to his district. He was tired, and the prospect of a couple of days of fishing and rest sounded good. What he found instead was a gruesome murder, the theft of an exquisite pearl necklace from the Emperor's favorite daughter, and a court intrigue that had the potential to shake the foundations of the Chinese empire.

That's the situation we find in Necklace and Calabash, by Robert Van Gulik. Set in seventh-century imperial China, this was the next-to-last of his novels about Judge Dee, an actual statesman and detective who lived during the T'ang dynasty. Originally published in 1967, Necklace and Calabash is the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast. You can listen to the entire review by clicking here.

Judge Dee has barely arrived in Rivertown when he is confronted with the murder of a clerk who had worked at one of the local inns. Rivertown was a special area administered by the military because the Emperor's favorite daughter, the Third Princess, had her summer residence nearby in the Water Palace. The military authorities ask Judge Dee for his help. But he has barely arrived in town before he is summoned to the Water Palace for an audience with the Third Princess, who orders him to help locate a missing pearl necklace, apparently stolen from her room.

It's a wonderful plot. Judge Dee will encounter many fascinating characters, some helpful, some hostile. Among those characters is a Taoist recluse who calls himself Master Gourd, who travels with an empty gourd, a calabash, and who will be instrumental in helping Judge Dee solve the mysteries - in fact, Master Gourd will save the judge's life...

Necklace and Calabash is my favorite of the Judge Dee books. There are three major mysteries expertly interwoven here. Judge Dee, who is ably assisted by a team of aides in most of the other books, is on his own in Rivertown and must form new alliances. All this takes place against a backdrop of imperial China. Van Gulik, who was a Dutch diplomat, was an authority on Chinese history and culture, and his insight into what life may have been like in Judge Dee's time adds a fascinating subtext to the book. I can't recommend this one highly enough.

For those of you who might want to discuss this book further, we'll be talking about it among the 4 Mystery Addicts newsgroup on Yahoo! Groups between April 20 and April 30. If you don't belong to the group already...well, you should, no matter what kind of mysteries and crime fiction you enjoy. Come join the fun!

Comments

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Les - Oh, thank you for the reminder of the great Judge Dee stories! I must re-acquaint myself with them. And thanks for the news about the Mystery Addicts group - I honestly admit I didn't know about it.

Margot, 4MA (the abbreviated version of their name, For Mystery Addicts), has been around for about a decade, I think. They do book discussions by email every month, and members are encouraged to share information about the crime fiction they're reading. Every kind of crime fiction is covered here. I'm leading the discussion on "Necklace and Calabash" starting this Sunday and running for 10 days - by all means, stop by. I enjoy all the Judge Dee mysteries (though some do get pretty dark!), but "Necklace and Calabash" is really my favorite. I think it's the most accessible to a modern audience.

Yvette, I have always enjoyed these mysteries. Van Gulik's first Judge Dee book, "Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee," was actually a translation of an old Chinese story. At the end of that book, Van Gulik challenged mystery writers to try to write new mysteries in the spirit of the old Chinese stories. When nobody took him up on it, he wrote his own, which is how we have the Judge Dee books. Try "Necklace and Calabash" - it's still in print (as are all the Judge Dee books, I think), and I believe you would enjoy it!